Is it safe to start (power up) tube amp with tubes removed?

[anatech]

Hi sumotan,
Previous replies are bang on. You can never power up a tube amp with an open load. It can even punch through the insulation in the output transformer (= dead transformer) and cause the output tubes to arc (can wreck the tubes). So the damage can be quite severe for simply forgetting to connect a load to the amplifier.

-Chris

 

[cnpope]

Thanks for clear advice. I will refrain from powering up the amp with tubes removed , not even for a shortest while., period. Will do the measurement some other way.

Why not unplug all the tubes, unsolder the transformer HT wires from the rectifier (and insulate them appropriately!), and then make all the measurements you want on the fan voltage, etc.

 

[sumotan]

Hi Chris

Thank you kindly.